Hyphens, Parentheses & the Dash
Hyphens -
Use a hyphen for compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine and with fractions used as adjectives.
Thirty-eighth Street
One-half cup
Sixty-three students will take the exam.
Fifty-four individuals joined our class.
Hyphenate a compound adjective that precedes a noun it modifies. Do not use a hyphen if the modifiers come AFTER the noun.
A well-written book captivates the reader.
A world-famous skier had an accident.
A well-known author lived down the street.
The chocolate-covered popcorn was delicious.
The author was well known.
The popcorn was chocolate covered.
Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex, self, all, anti, and between a prefix and a capitalized word.
ex-husband
ex-football player
all-inclusive hotel
anti-American
mid-1990's
Parentheses ( )
Use parentheses to enclose material that is not considered of major importance in a sentence.
Harper Lee (1926-2016) wrote the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Aunt Constance (my mother’s aunt and my great-aunt) is coming to visit.
Capitalize and use end punctuation for parenthetical matter that stands alone as a sentence. Do not capitalize and use end punctuation for parenthetical matter contained within a sentence.
Complete the form. (Please print or type.)
The protagonist (the author did not give him a name) is a sniper.